Singh said three people “who could have just walked by,” stepped in a chased off the pack of boys.

The NYPD released surveillance video of a group of young men on bicycles near the scene of the attack. They are wanted for questioning in connection with the incident.

Singh co-wrote a New York Times op-ed last year about the very thing he said happened to him: hate attacks on Sikhs mistaken for Muslims.

According to a Stanford University study sponsored by the Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund, 70 percent of Americans misidentify turban-wearers in the U.S. as Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist or Shinto when nearly all turban-wearers in the U.S. adhere to Sikhism, SALDEF said.

“Here you have a practicing doctor, a teacher and a community servant falling victim to hate in the largest and proudest melting pot in America,” Jasjit Singh, SALDEF’s executive director, said in a statement. “This violence is an affront to all Americans’ core values.”

Sikh Coalition spokesman Amardeep Sing added that children are frequently targeted as well.

The physician and professor said he hopes his 1-year-old son will not have to endure discrimination as he grows up.

“I want to live in a community where somebody feels comfortable asking me ‘hey what’s on your head? Why do you have that beard?'” Singh said.

The Anti-Defamation League also condemned the attack Monday, calling it a “senseless act.”

“We are shocked and appalled to hear the news that Dr. Singh, who has been a thoughtful voice on anti-Sikh hate crimes, was a victim of a brutal and senseless act of hate in his own neighborhood,” the ADL said in a statement.

As he recovers from his injuries Dr. Singh pondered what could cause this type of violence.

“Think we need to know who gave these kids the green light to hate,” he told CBS 2’s John Slattery.